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Mitt Romney's weekend from hell

After his Iowa showing, Mitt Romney is likely to face a pile-on from his rivals. | AP Photo

Less clear is whether Romney will be disciplined enough to withstand the expected barrage.

He went into the Dec. 10 debate prepped for attacks from Gingrich, yet that wasn’t where he got tripped up. It was when Perry made a comment about Romney’s book and an alleged strategic deletion from it — which Romney insists is false — and Romney responded by offering to bet him $10,000 that it wasn’t the case.

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The moment got into the political bloodstream, and Romney’s supporters knew he’d suffered a self-inflicted wound.

Romney — who has typically excelled at the debates — also got rattled at the Las Vegas debate in the fall, when Perry slammed him for hiring “illegals” to work on his home.

But those were the few and far-between attacks in a glut of debates in which few candidates threw sharp elbows at Romney. He will be on different ground this time.

If there is a silver lining for Romney, it’s the perceived undercard.

Ron Paul, who came in third in the Iowa caucuses, is very likely to target Santorum at the debate. Paul and Santorum went at each other in Iowa over issues like abortion and gun control in the final days before voting began; they’ve also criticized each other in several debates.

The stakes are much higher now for Santorum, who is now the man to beat for those hoping to be the conservative Romney alternative. Perry had already started hitting Santorum over earmarks on the radio in Iowa and in interviews on caucus day, and it’s unlikely he’ll decline a shot if offered the chance.

Huntsman is another who will likely to try to use Paul as a foil. He’s slammed Paul’s foreign policy views, including in a campaign Web ad, and will probably do so again.

One question mark is how Santorum and Gingrich, who essentially switched places in polling ahead of the caucuses, engage. Multiple sources said Gingrich’s camp had discussed the possibility of a “non-aggression pact” with Santorum for the debates as a strategy, but Gingrich made a mildly condescending comment about the former Pennsylvania senator on Thursday.

Santorum, according to sources, plans to draw whatever contrasts he sees fit in the debates.

A donnybrook involving the group of candidates who have been seen as the anti-Romney tier can only benefit the front-runner.

“The entire New Hampshire primary cycle here [has been that] Mitt started from a position of strength,” said Killion, adding, “his opponents’ either inability or inaction in being able to engage him directly and being able to respond has really set the tone and the rhythm for this whole thing here. But this debate [weekend] is a moment that could actually change that. I think this carries a story line beyond my borders here.”

And our liberal/progressive MSM wolfpack press are going to HELP them anyway they can so Mitt will be walking through a minefield for each debate which are both being sponsored by pro-Obama Brown shirts..............ABC and NBC..........bad news!

South Carolina will be the Elmer Gantry's last chance to defeat Mitt Romney.

Obama's stooges at ABC and at NBC .........you know Meet The Press Enemy stooges....... I think these debates this weekend will be one BIG circus....... the RNC needs to grow a brain and get these debates on C-SPAN............

Not looking forward to these debates at all...............but again........................Thankyou IOWA..........

"Attacks this late in the game may not matter much," writes Ms. Haberman. "This late in the election cycle, it will be very difficult to introduce attacks and make them stick," says an anonymous veteran GOP strategist. John McCain comes rushing out (or doddering out) to essentially say, "Enough is enough. Now we need to rally behind Mitt Romney and put this process to bed." These people are writing and saying these things although only some 120,000+ Iowans have officially stated their preferences! The voting of the people has just begun and reporters and politicians are seeking to wrap this thing up and tie the ribbon bow! I guess nothing is scarier to them than hearing from the American voters (who might upend reportorial predictions, embarrass political prognosticators and ruin the Republican Party establishment's premature coronation).

I don't think Jon Huntsman's criticisms of Romney have been so "muted" as some make them out to be. He directly went after the illusion of Romney as some great job creator, pointing out that as governor Huntsman's policies led Utah to the number one position in job creation while Romney-led Massachusetts lagged at 47th. Huntsman boldly attacked Romney's aching itch to start a trade war with China, which could economically cripple the United States. Huntsman criticized Romney's weakling "I'll do whatever the generals in Afghanistan tell me to do" and argued for a lighter footprint there as we pull troops out faster. There are other issues that have seen Huntsman go after Romney in arguing he, Huntsman, is the truer, more consistently conservative than Romney. (Individual mandates come to mind.) I see a coming surge for Huntsman in New Hampshire, so hold onto your coronation gifts and hats, for the Nomination ride isn't over yet.

WINDHAM, N.H. -- Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said he was "not surprised to hear" that the vote total for ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may have been overcounted by 20 in the final tally of Iowa caucus-goers, but both he and his campaign were declining to weigh in on the story that broke Thursday night.

Speaking to a large gathering of New Hampshire voters at Windham High School, the Pennsylvania Republican said he was unaware that a local television station in Iowa had aired a report on a potential vote count discrepancy that would alter the winner of the caucus two days ago.

The station, KCCI, reported that in Appanoose County, a vote-counter had discovered an inconsistency between the number of the 50 votes he had monitored and what the Republican Party of Iowa had recorded.

"When Mitt Romney won Iowa by eight votes and I've got a 20-vote discrepancy here, that right there says Rick Santorum won Iowa," said the vote-counter, Edward True, 28. "Not Mitt Romney."

A spokeswoman with the Iowa Republican Party did not immediately address True's assertion, but stressed that he was not a precinct captain and was not authorized to discuss the vote. The 20-vote discrepancy remained, late Thursday, unconfirmed.

But by the time Santorum had left the stage, word had gotten to him and his aides that he may have been the winner of the Iowa caucus after all. Asked for reaction by the Huffington Post, he replied:

"We were ahead and they told us that 20 votes were undercounted for Romney and that's what changed it. So, I'm not surprised to hear that. We will see what happens."

When I saw Karl (the Vote Rigger and fellow DRAFT DODGER) Rove on Fox News, supposedly getting the inside scoop on Draft Dodger Romney's win, I knew the votes for Santorum were stolen and that the establishment had tried rigged the vote to gove Romney a win. Still, even with the thieving GOP establishment in his corner, the liberal tax and spend mormon FLIP FLOPPER failed to surpass his 2008 tally, nor did he move past the 75% rejection rate from conservative Republican voters.